The UN gets it wrong again and I was there to let them know.I am Eritrean-American who has lived in the United States for over 30 years. I have had a great career, put two kids through college, a wonderful family life, traveled the world and been able to actively participate in my community. I have all of the opportunity to be content with my life, but rather, I am appalled by the injustice and lack of progressive thinking I witnessed from the United Nations’ Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights (COIHR) in Eritrea over the last month.On June 8th, the Commission publicly released a 484-page report claiming “that systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government.” I couldn’t believe my country of origin – a country that fought for over 30 years against oppression and for independence - was being accused of such things.On June 21st, I boarded a plane to Geneva, UN Headquarters, to join the 6,000 Eritreans - from all corners of the world, some traveling hours by bus – that had already gathered in protest against the COIHR’s report. Arriving the morning of the 22nd, I went straight to the demonstration, to find a sea of Eritreans assembled in front of the UN. The crowd was made up of Eritreans and friends of Eritrea stretching the socioeconomic spectrum - students, home makers, recently-arrived immigrants, and high-level professionals in fields like Engineering, Medicine, Business and Academia. These people, like me, have the opportunity to sit back in our comfortable lives and not bother with these matters. The question then becomes why did all these people travel such long distances to stand in front of the UN? The reason is we all believe in justice, and that we cannot stand idly by while Eritrea is accused of violating human rights and dignity when the nation paid a dear price – its people – to secure those very things. Eritrea has suffered long enough!Today, Eritrea is being accused of enslaving its own people through mandatory conscription and endless periods of service. What the international community has not bothered to understand is the sense of individual responsibility each Eritrean feels. Mike Smith, chairperson of the Commission, even mentioned the high cost that Eritreans paid in order to gain independence and liberation. I, alone, have lost brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. Every Eritrean has lost family and friends but because of this, every Eritrean, within the country or living in the diaspora, works to ensure that the vision of strong, free nation is achieved. Moreover, to call nation building – creating access to drinking water, free education and healthcare, developing infrastructure – slavery is insulting. Is it referred to as slavery because we are Africans and do not deserve access to the basic human needs the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims to protect. The irony is that not one thing is mentioned about the removal of Ethiopian troops from sovereign Eritrean territories, a component of the Algiers Peace Agreement signed in 2000, a peace agreement facilitated by the UN Security Council and a key reason why Eritrean soldiers service has been extended.In addition to not understanding vital threads about Eritrean culture and there being a disconnect between the UN’s actions, the methodology of this report also does not add up. The Commission claims that they traveled to eight countries and carried out 550 confidential interviews. Many of the people who were interviewed were asylum-seekers. An asylum seeker has to report that certain conditions in their home countries exist in order to get asylum in the host country. Obviously, interviewing 550 asylum seekers or recent asylum recipients is going to present a very biased perspective.In summary, the Eritrean Government is trying to do what colonizers for decades would not do and to avoid failing into the economic, social, political traps that so many other developing nations fell into. The 6,000 Eritreans and friends of Eritrea who stood in front of the UN Headquarters, while Smith and other Commission members made up excuses to avoid addressing the crowd, came to say that we will not allow our nation to be degraded. If there are human rights abuses occurring in Eritrea, the Eritrean people along with the Government will address those issues. Although during a press conference, Smith dismissed the 6,000 people as just people who the Government of Eritrea had organized, I am here to say that, I, like all the others who stood in Geneva that day assembled on our own free will. No one made us leave our comfortable lives, travel for hours and stand passionately together, other than ourselves. To say otherwise, is insulting and condescending. Eritrean people are strong and will continue to stand for justice at all costs. zerezghi abrehe email rutharon_at_msn.com
Received on Thu Jul 02 2015 - 00:48:02 EDT